---
title: Why did cities grow at oases? — The Silk Road · tree and pragmatics
description: Why did cities grow at oases? Test 4 of lesson 28 «The Silk Road» of the geography course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each option; Mova's choice was right.
---

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# Test 4 · The Silk Road

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why did cities grow at oases?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 3 · right ✓ · **Who acts:** cities · **What happens:** grow · **To what, where:** oases

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 4 of lesson 28 «The Silk Road» of the geography course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/28-the-silk-road/#t4).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t4:1
# text = Why did cities grow at oases?
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	cities	city	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	oases	oasis	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past · do-support | cities |  |  | oases |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at oasis=Location |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Oases had gold lying on the ground

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t4:o1:1
# text = Oases had gold lying on the ground
1	Oases	oasis	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Oases | gold |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent gold=Patient |
| 2 | **lie** | gerund | gold *not said here* |  |  | the ground |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on ground=Location |

### Option 2 {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Oases were cooler than the mountains

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t4:o2:1
# text = Oases were cooler than the mountains
1	Oases	oasis	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	cooler	cool	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
4	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Oases |  |  |  |  | than the mountains; cool *property* | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Oases had water where caravans could rest and trade

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t4:o3:1
# text = Oases had water where caravans could rest and trade
1	Oases	oasis	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	7	advmod	_	_
5	caravans	caravan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	rest	rest	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl:relcl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	trade	trade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Oases | water and trade |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Patient |
| 2 | **rest** | could | caravans |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Oases were the only places where silkworms could live and spin

```conllu
# sent_id = question:geography:28-the-silk-road:t4:o4:1
# text = Oases were the only places where silkworms could live and spin
1	Oases	oasis	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
6	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	9	advmod	_	_
7	silkworms	silkworm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	spin	spin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Oases | the only places |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **live** | could | silkworms |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **spin** | infinitive | silkworms *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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